The Acting Chief Medical Officer has urged people to go back to meeting people outdoors amid warnings that the country is in the “middle” of a summer wave.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has also confirmed that the Government is drafting a plan to deal with an expected “very significant surge of Covid” in the Autumn and Winter months.
Acting CMO Professor Breda Smyth said: “It's really important when we do have waves of different nature that we actually step up our behaviours again; washing our hands; wearing our masks when we do go into those crowded spaces.
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“And if we're meeting up with people to try and meet outdoors and it's all of these messages that you've all heard before.
“This [wave] is as a result of the sub-variant of the Omicron variant we're all very familiar with that causes disease.
“With this sub-variant it is even more transmissible than the previous variants.. which is now 90% dominant within the case of circulating often as we have checked is giving rise to this recent way.
“So everywhere we go into a crowded space it's likely that there is going to be someone that can have the virus.
“So it's important we take every step of the way to protect ourselves, our families and our loved ones from the circulation of the virus.
“So staying at home with your symptoms is really important.
“Also, the basic infection prevention and control procedures like washing our hands, wearing our masks, and avoiding crowded spaces.”
Minister Donnelly said the Government and Covid-19 advisory group are putting together a plan for the Autumn and Winter as the disease has the potential to “put significant pressure on public health.”
It comes as Tanáiste Leo Varadkar said he was "concerned" about the next wave in the winter, which may coincide with flu season.
He said the Government will be guided by advice from NIAC on vaccines, but he anticipates a "very extensive Covid and flu vaccine programme happening in the early autumn".
Speaking to RTÉ, the Fine Gael leader said that it is possible that the Government will ask people to wear masks in certain settings during the winter, but said he does not envisage a return of "restrictions that restrict people's freedoms or cause people's businesses to close."
But he added that this could not ultimately be ruled out.
Prof Smyth said she thinks the population is struggling to understand the concept of waning immunity and said if people were infected or had their booster in January, although it still protects against severe illness but as time progresses, it is less effective at preventing reinfection.
She said there has only been a 50% uptake in those aged over 65 in receiving their second booster.
And 75% of admissions to hospital are over the age of 65 and urged that cohort to come forward to protect themselves.
Prof Smyth said there are 849 cases in hospitals across the country, including 137 admissions overnight and around 125 admissions a day.
She said there were a total of 31,224 positive PCR and antigen tests reported in the week prior to June 29.
She said these figures were “unreliable” given a large number of cases are undetected in the community and said cases are likely to be much higher.
She said that PCR testing is only recommended for certain subgroups and not everyone requires a test and for those who do not require a test, it is important to stay at home until their symptoms have significantly resolved for at least 48 hours.
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